I designed this breakfast when I started weight training and it’s basically a combination of lots of my favourite foods, high in Vitamins A and C, Iron and Calcium, (according to Calorie Count) and coming in at around 400 calories. Unfortunately the picture is missing the final critical ingredient that brings the whole dish together in to an incredibly tasty breakfast. Read on to find out what it is…

crush 1/4 – 1/2 a shallot or small onion in to the mixture using a garlic press

add 1/4 of a finely chopped shallot

add 2 crushed garlic cloves

add finely chopped chillies or mill dried chillies – to taste

add 2 finely chopped cherry tomatoes or 1/4 red pepper

add a splash of lemon juice and a pinch of dried herbs

Mix and set aside.

Heat a small frying pan on a high heat. Finely slice the mushrooms, and once the pan is hot add the butter. Once melted, add the mushrooms, season with pepper, and fry hard and fast until the edges are nicely browned.

Whisk the egg with a fork and then add a splash of milk. Season with pepper only (no salt – it makes them tough) and a bare pinch of herbs. Microwave for 30 seconds, whisk again, microwave in 10-20 second bursts until the egg is puffed up and fully cooked – chopping through with a fork before each burst. Using a whisk breaks the egg up a little too finely for my taste.

Lay the egg in a wide-bottomed bowl and cover generously with turmeric, a great spice with excellent anti-inflammatory properties. Add the guacamole over the eggs or to the side (as shown) and cover with the hot, fried mushrooms and top with the grated cheese as quickly as possible so that the cheese starts to melt from the heat coming off the cooked foods.

The final topping, sadly missing from the photo, is salad cream! The tart and vinegary sauce perfectly complements the flavours of this dish and make it a truly scrumptious breakfast.

Render bacon in a large frying pan on medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Remove meat with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain all but 2 Tablespoons of the bacon grease. Add butter. Melt while scraping up brown bits from bottom of pan. Add onion, and sugar. Stir and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Add garlic, molasses/syrup and all spices. Cook for 5 more minutes, watching carefully and stirring so the mixture doesn’t burn. Add coffee, vinegar, bourbon, maple syrup, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Stir until evenly combined. Add the bacon. Cook on low heat, uncovered for one hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Cool for 20 minutes. Pour into a food processor and pulse until consistently chunky. Cool and skim off the fat. Spoon into a one pint jar and cover tightly. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. You may need to let the portion of bacon jam that you’d like to use for your recipe set out at room temperature for 15 minutes before using to make it more spreadable.

Blind bake your pastry with coins on baking parchment if you don’t have baking beans.

After blind baking, bake for a further 3-4 minutes with an egg-white wash to seal your pastry and protect from a soggy bottom.

Ingredients for the sweet pastry

125g (5 heaped tbps) plain flour

75g very cold butter (I always use salted butter)

25g (1tbsp) caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1 egg white

Cold water

Ingredients for the filling

Lemon curd

150g room temperature butter

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

150g ground almonds

2 tsp almond extract

zest of 1 lemon

flaked almonds for decoration

Method

Freeze the pastry butter and grate in to the flour – this makes it a quick and easy pastry with little rubbing required and keeps the pastry cold too! Add the sugar and mix lightly with a fork. Then add the fork-whipped egg yolk and as much cold water (or as little) to bind together to a dry ball. Chill in cling film for around 20-30 minutes.

Roll the chilled pastry in between to sheets of clingfilm. This keeps your surfaces clean, and saves you drying out the pastry. Roll to thickness no more than 4mm and wide enough to cover your dish.

I use disposable foil flan cases.

Prick the surface of the pastry and chill again. Once chilled put in a pre-heated over (180C) for around 18 minutes with a baking paper and coin/baking beans cover on the base.

Remove the sheet and coins/beans and lightly cover the base with fork-whipped egg white. The white only needs to be slightly broken down so that it covers without lumps, not whisked.

Bake for another 3 minutes.

Let the pastry cool whilst you make the filling.

Cream the butter and sugar and then add the fork-whipped eggs a little at a time. Add the ground almonds, lemon zest, and almond extract.

Cover the base of the pastry with a layer of lemon curd, as much as you like – but remember that the more you layer, the less control you have over where it end up once your filling is added!

Add your filling starting at the outside, working around and then filling the very middle. Top with flaked almonds and bake for 40-50 minutes.

It will bloom up and give a beautifully rounded top. Best served with cold cream.